An introduction and question on getting started with breeding morphs!

[tikigator]

Hi Everyone! I'm new to this forum and this is my first thread! To introduce myself, my name is Laura and I am from Naples, FL. I started out with horses as my passion, working on breeding farms in Ocala in college, and learning all I could about horses....and I belonged to several forums/bulletin boards, which helped me to gain a TON of helpful information when I was just starting out. Horses started out for me as a passion and a hobby and grew into a successful business, which I started a few years ago here in Naples. Through some uncontrollable circumstances, I have decided to stray away from the horse business and give myself (and my bank account) a break (if any of you have horses, or have had them, you know what I'm talking about!) I have found a new passion and hobby.....

Over a year ago I got my first ball python (thanks to my best friend who has a ball python and I just fell in love with him!) I have officially been bitten by "the bug" and am very interested in learning about breeding morphs. I would like to start my own little breeding operation, not as a business but just as a hobby. I am very excited and have thoroughly enjoyed learning all that I have about ball pythons, breeding, genetics, etc. I am very intrigued by color mutations...I worked on a paint breeding farm in Ocala and learned a GREAT deal about genetics and color combinations....it was fascinating!

My question to all of you is now that I am ready to go purchase a couple snakes....can you all make some suggestions as to what I should be looking to get? I have been advised getting a couple females is the way to go....and then getting one really nice quality "stud" to breed to all of them when they are large enough. What are some morphs that are good "starter" breeders?

I am fairly educated on the genetics as far as pairing up genes, but still a bit fuzzy on the dominant, co-dominant, and recessive. I understand them on paper, but trying to figure out which would be the easiest combinations to start out with is stumping me.

So if you all can suggest a couple females (for example I was thinking of getting a pastel and a spider), and then what male would go good with them (I had the opportunity to get an albino male that was very affordable, but then I know albino is resessive and babies would be pastel (or spider) het albino.

Anyway, I am SO excited to be learning and I greatly appreciate any advice you all can offer to someone just starting out. Thanks again!

[zues]

Welcome to BP.net. You can learn a ton of info from the people on this site. I grew up in Naples. Been gone for about 12 years but still visit family there often. I think you are on the right track with starting off with females. No need for a male for probably two years or so. You didn't say what kind of budget you are working with so that makes giving ideas a little hard. Spider and pastel females would be the cheapest morphs to start with is money is a huge concern but I would go a little higher end if you can. If you can afford 800-1000 dollar range I would suggest a lesser and a bee female. Lessers give you many possibilities down the road, and the bee gives you both the pastel and the spider gene. You also have one of the top breeders in the country, in my opinion, right in your back yard. Mark and Kim Bell are located in Naples. They own Reptile Industries and are a big time breeder. Not sure how much they deal with the public now days but you could give them a call when you are serious about buying and see what they have.

[tikigator]

Welcome to BP.net. You can learn a ton of info from the people on this site. I grew up in Naples. Been gone for about 12 years but still visit family there often. I think you are on the right track with starting off with females. No need for a male for probably two years or so. You didn't say what kind of budget you are working with so that makes giving ideas a little hard. Spider and pastel females would be the cheapest morphs to start with is money is a huge concern but I would go a little higher end if you can. If you can afford 800-1000 dollar range I would suggest a lesser and a bee female. Lessers give you many possibilities down the road, and the bee gives you both the pastel and the spider gene. You also have one of the top breeders in the country, in my opinion, right in your back yard. Mark and Kim Bell are located in Naples. They own Reptile Industries and are a big time breeder. Not sure how much they deal with the public now days but you could give them a call when you are serious about buying and see what they have.

haha actually Mark and Kim live a couple streets down from me. I actually contacted them when I was looking to get my first ball python--they really don't deal with the public very much, its all through their website. I am hoping to get in contact with Kim again now that I am more interested in breed and not just buying a single snake. I heard their facility is amazing, there is a youtube video giving a tour, it's amazing.

I found a thread called "I've been bit by the bug" and whoever wrote the initial post sounds just like me! There was a lot of great advise and information. I haven't really decided on a price range actually...I know that sounds ridiculous but I'm not sure if I would rather spend $200-300 per female and get 3-4 females....or.....go drop $600-700 on a really nice male (like the bumblebee that was suggested in that other thread) and then buy a couple large female normals.

I don't have thousands to spend to start out....but I am willing to drop $1000 or so to get a few nice snakes. I understand this is a long process...but the thought of perhaps getting a high quality male and get a couple large females ready to breed and then breeding this coming season excites me to no end! I was thinking I would get 3-4 morph females....wait a year or 2 until they are adult and ready to breed and then find a male.

Are there any other considerations such as the male bumblebee being bred to some normal females?

I have two young het pieds right now but they are a long ways away from being large enough to breed. And I have a normal male that I wasnt planning on breeding (just don't see the point I guess). But yes please any advice on combinations would be greatly appreciated! I am hoping to find a reptile show/expo in Florida within the next month or 2 (there used to be on in Orlando every summer) and I hope to have my "plan" on paper so if I go I know exactly what to look for.

I am so very excited and thrilled to have found such a great forum which such wonderful information! Thanks again!

[zues]

I haven't been through their place in probably 13 years. My neighbor worked there for a few years when I was in high school. Back then they were doing more burms than balls. Nice place that's for sure. It's funny after I posted earlier I was watching Python Hunters and Mark was on the show with them hunting for pythons.

The only problem with the bee male to normals is you are going to produce a lot of pastels, spiders, and normals along with some bees. The market for spiders and pastels has really slowed down in the last few years. If you have a bee female and breed her with another co dom male you have no normals and a chance for several combos. You could get a get a male pastel ghost and bring in a recessive gene. Breeding him to a bee you get pastel het ghost, spider het ghost, bee het ghost, and killer bee het ghost. Breeding that male to the lesser you get pastel het ghost, lesser het ghost, and pastel lesser het ghost.

I know you said you were getting away from horses to give the checkbook a break but be warned that these guys can get addictive. Once hooked they can wreak havoc on a checkbook.

[smetz]

Really look at whats out there , i picked up some snakes that i still love but would have
made different choices , there was some good ideas in the the posts before . Now really
onto anything ghost ,enchis and many more in your price range .

[Ch^10]

Get what YOU want to see in your collection down the road! You will be caring for them for the next 15+ years, so you might as well get something you like to look at.

IMHO, basing what morphs to purchase purely on market trends is not the way to do it...

But, to each their own.

[JayCee]

Get what YOU want to see in your collection down the road! You will be caring for them for the next 15+ years, so you might as well get something you like to look at.

I agree. Have a couple "target snakes" that you would like to produce someday and then create your plan and get females that fit that plan.

[purplemuffin]

I agree!

I know I'm not planning to be a full-time/regular breeder, but I would like to try it out. My plan is to wait, though, and save up some money to get the morphs I REALLY want to make. For instance, I just would die to have a "king clown" which is a clown and a lesser! It's one of my favorite morphs! I want to wait until I can afford/find a lesser het clown and a lesser so I can produce my dream I also love pieds and their combos, so I would go ahead and buy them as well!

Bees are great, but personally not in my 'favorite snake' list!

So really it's all up to what you want and what you can afford! Go look up morphs online, visit conventions, figure out what you want to see hatch out of your future eggs!

[zues]

I agree one should start with animals that they really want. The only one she mentioned was a bee so I went with that for my suggestion. I was just giving her more options. If you start with a bee and normals you are pretty much at the end of that project. By adding the ghost and lesser genes you could play with this project for years with only your offspring.